A new free download from Microsoft will allow Office 2007 users to save documents in Adobe's PDF format, as well as Microsoft's own XPS format, the company announced today.

The release is relevant to government operations in light of Massachusetts' adoption of an open formats regulation. The state standardized on the OpenDoc format but recognizes PDF as a viable option. Administrators object to government docs being saved in Microsoft's proprietary format. According to the release notes, users can save a document or send an e-mail attachment in PDF or XPS format.

The Save as PDF feature, announced last October, prompted Adobe to threaten to file an antitrust complaint against Microsoft in June. In response, Microsoft changed its plans and decided to offer the feature as a separate download rather than included within Office 2007.

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